The Limited Patience of Redheads
by Sweet Lunacy
Summary: All Jenny wants to do is make it through the weekend alive. Or without losing her mind. Tori seems determined to make that impossible, and with Jenny's quick temper, who knows what could happen? Shattered universe. One-shot.


**A/N: Just a little one-shot inspired by a babysitting adventure I once had. In which Jenny is tasked with watching Tori and Lana for an entire weekend while her sister is out of town. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Do elephants get songs stuck in their head?"

This question, posed to her by her seven-year-old niece, was so bizarre that Jennifer Gibbs didn't even know where to begin. She frowned, shifting the baby in her arms slightly, and Tori sighed, annoyed that she hadn't answered her yet.

"Aunt Jenny?"

"What?"

Hard as she tried, Jenny couldn't keep the irritated tone from her voice.

"You didn't answer my question."

"Which one?"

It was a valid question. Tori had asked her at least fifteen in the last half hour, and Jenny's patience was growing incredibly thin. She still wasn't sure why she had agreed to watch Heather's daughters for an entire weekend, but at this point, she would have claimed temporary insanity.

"The one about the elephants."

"I don't know, Tori."

Lana began to squirm in her arms and Jenny glanced down at her, giving her a tired smile. It didn't help that she hadn't slept in days, and since her husband was working a case, she'd been left to watch the girls alone. The soft whimpering of the baby made her frown and she sighed.

"What's wrong, Lana Banana?"

Tori rolled her eyes.

"All she does is cry. When will I be able to play with her?"

"Not until she's older. Babies need lots of rest and help when they're little like this."

Knowing that Lana was likely ready to be put down for a nap, Jenny walked over to the crib sitting in the corner and set her down gently.

"She's tired, Tori. A lot of babies cry when they're tired."

"Why?" Tori asked, confused, "If she's tired, she can go to sleep. No one's stopping her."

Jenny couldn't help it. She laughed and Tori groaned, peeking through the bars of the crib at her little sister.

"Aunt Jenny?"

"Hm?"

"Do mommy goldfish sing their babies to sleep like my mommy does Lana?"

Jenny sighed, running her hand through her hair. This was one of those days where she really had to remind herself that she did, in fact, love her niece, but she had also never been more thankful that she didn't have children of her own.

"I don't know. Tori. I guess so."

"Where's Uncle Jethro?"

"At work," Jenny replied shortly, walking into the kitchen in search of a glass.

She tried to pretend that she didn't notice Tori walking directly behind her, acting as an extremely talkative shadow, and sighed as she poured a glass of water.

"Can I have a snack?"

"You just ate lunch two hours ago."

"Pleeeeease?"

"No."

Tori sighed dramatically, climbing up onto the table and sitting on the edge, her feet swinging back and forth.

"Tori, don't sit on the table."

"Mommy lets me."

"Well, I'm not Mommy," Jenny pointed out.

The little girl hopped down, spinning herself in circles to imitate an airplane and Jenny groaned. What on earth was wrong with this child? She supposed her hyperactivity could have been the result of being away from her parents for so long, but Jenny couldn't ever remember her acting quite this annoyingly in the past.

"Aunt Jenny, can we play hide and clap?"

Jenny shook her head.

"Lana's sleeping. The noise would wake her up."

"That's okay," Tori said, brightening, "She can play too! I'll clap for her."

Tori ran to the living room and Jenny took off after her.

"Victoria Elise, if you even _think_ about waking up that baby, I'll take Jack away from you."

Knowing that her niece cherished the stuffed rabbit Gibbs had given her, Jenny was correct in assuming the threat would make her halt in her tracks. She fell silent, looking at her with wide eyes and nodded.

"Can I go play outside?"

"It's raining," Jenny sighed.

Of course it was. It just _had_ to rain on the one day that Tori had decided to be extra annoying.

"Well, that's a damn shame," Tori muttered.

"Tori! Where did you hear that?"

"Daddy," she answered simply.

Jenny looked at her curiously, and sank down on the couch.

"Let's play the Quiet Game."

"How do you play that?"

"You have to be very quiet, and if you say anything, you lose."

"What happens if I win?"

Jenny knew there was no way in hell that would happen, but frowned as she thought of a reward.

"I'll let you stay up for half an hour past your bedtime."

"Yay!"

"Okay, starting now. No talking."

Tori nodded, and Jenny closed her eyes, resting her head in her hands wearily.

"For how long?" Tori asked.

"You just lost, Tori."

"Aunt Jennyyyyy...you didn't tell me how long."

Supposing she had a point, Jenny nodded.

"Okay. Twenty minutes. See the clock? When the numbers say 17:33, that's when it stops. Go."

Tori clamped her mouth shut, and Jenny took advantage of the quiet to pick up the book she'd been trying to read for the better part of three days. She knew that Tori was probably just testing her limits as children were prone to do, but it was doing nothing for her frayed nerves. Gibbs had been searching for a serial killer for the past week, and each time a new body had turned up, it had only increased the urgency of finding him. Her superiors were breathing down her neck, demanding action, and Jenny had very nearly gone off and told them exactly what she thought of them.

"Did I win, Aunt Jenny?"

Glancing at the clock, the redhead wasn't surprised to see that only eleven minutes had passed and she shook her head with a smile.

"Nope. Sorry."

Tori pouted for a moment, then smiled as she began spinning around in circles again. Jenny sighed, her hand keeping her place in her book.

"Tori, you're going to fall."

"No, I won't. I'm good at this."

Slowly counting to five in her head, Jenny looked at her sharply. It was a look Tori knew well, having seen it on her mother's face often enough, but she paid it little attention.

"Tori, stop doing that before you get hurt."

"But I—"

"I don't care," Jenny snapped, completely forgetting to check her tone, "I told you to do something, I expect you to listen."

Tori froze, her eyes wide, and she made her way slowly over to the crib. She peered into it, reaching through the bars to touch Lana's cheek gently, and Jenny moaned softly.

"Leave the baby alone. She's sleeping."

"I didn't wake her up."

A sudden idea came to the little girl and she began gathering the pillows she had brought with her from her house, slowly constructing a small fort. The crib was used as a base, and when Tori attempted to climb over the side, it was enough.

Jenny snapped. Slamming the book in her hand onto the table, she stood up, feeling the last thin piece of patience leave her, and she glared at the little girl angrily.

"Victoria Elise, I told you to leave Lana alone and let her sleep! You've done everything possible to ignore me every time I've told you to do something, and I'm very disappointed in you. Your mother raised you to behave better, and if you can't even manage a single weekend, then maybe you shouldn't be allowed to visit anymore. I've got half a mind to call your mother and tell—"

"Jen!"

She turned, slightly embarrassed that she hadn't heard him come in, and he looked at her seriously.

"What's going on?"

Jenny gestured broadly in Tori's direction.

"_You_ deal with her," she snapped, "I've had enough."

She pushed past him, storming up the stairs and when the bedroom door slammed, Tori flinched. Gibbs looked at her sternly, wondering just what had caused his wife to become so angry, and Tori stared at the ground.

"What were you doing?"

"I just wanted to make a fort out of the crib. Lana was going to be the princess that needed to be rescued."

"Uh-huh. And what did Aunt Jenny say about that?"

"She told me not to bother Lana and let her sleep."

Gibbs walked closer to her, peering in at the baby. Her eyes were open now, and she was looking up at him as though she couldn't believe what had happened either. He smiled at her, and covered her with the blanket she had kicked off in her sleep.

"Did you listen to her?" he asked Tori.

"No," she said sadly, "I didn't mean to make her mad, Uncle Jethro."

He knelt down, looking at Tori seriously.

"I know you didn't, but you should have listened to her. Why don't you hook up the DVD player and watch one of the movies you have, and I'll go talk to her, okay?"

Tori nodded, and as he walked towards the steps, her quiet voice made him turn.

"I'm sorry, Uncle Jethro."

"I know."

* * *

When he walked into the bedroom, he frowned at the sight of Jenny sitting on the bed, her head cradled in her hands. She didn't look up as he sat down next to her, and when he wrapped his arm around her shoulder, she remained where she was. He knew she'd been extremely stressed lately, and she'd been sleeping even less than usual. She'd been short with him more than once in the past few days, but Tori, it seemed, had been what pushed her over the edge.

"You okay?" he asked quietly.

Her head shook, and she sighed.

"I know I shouldn't have yelled at her, but...Jethro, I just...she wouldn't listen to anything I said, she asked me a million ridiculous questions, the baby's been extra fussy today...I just..."

"I know, Jen. It's hard. Even harder to do on your own. If it helps, Heather and David will be back tomorrow."

"I feel so awful. I _yelled_ at her."

"I heard," he reminded her, "I think she understands now, though. She was just testing you to see how much she could get away with. All kids do it. And I think you scared her enough that she won't try it again any time soon."

"Oh, god," Jenny moaned, leaning her head on his shoulder, "I scared her? I didn't mean to scare her."

He shook his head.

"Honestly, I think she's more upset because you said you were disappointed in her. She looks up to you and wants you to be proud of her."

"Where is she now?"

"Watching a movie on the couch."

Jenny nodded, standing slowly and sighed as she straightened her shirt.

"I'll go talk to her."

Gibbs stood, wrapping his arms around her, and kissed her gently.

"It'll be okay."

"I hope you're right."

"I am," he replied arrogantly.

He kissed her again and touched her cheek softly.

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

* * *

Tori refused to meet Jenny's eyes when she walked down the stairs and frowned as she sat down next to her on the couch. The older redhead was silent for a long moment, her eyes flickering to Gibbs' shadow at the top of the steps, and she sighed.

"Tori?"

The little girl glanced over at her, afraid she would start yelling again, and Jenny met her eyes seriously.

"I shouldn't have yelled at you. I'm sorry. But do you understand why I did?"

"Because I was bad?"

"No," Jenny shook her head, "Because you didn't listen. I told you to leave Lana sleeping, and I told you not to spin around the room in circles. Do you know why?"

Tori was silent, and she continued.

"I did that because you could have gotten hurt, or you could have hurt Lana. I know you wouldn't do that at your house, and you can't do it just because your mommy isn't here. I also know that you would never hurt yourself or Lana on purpose, but accidents happen."

"I'm sorry I made you mad, Aunt Jenny. And that I didn't listen."

"I know. You might be a little too young to understand it now, but rules exist for a reason. They're there to keep you safe, and rules have to be followed. I'm not telling you these things just to be mean, I want to protect you and make sure nothing bad happens to you."

Tori frowned as she thought about this, and her next question nearly shattered Jenny's heart.

"Do you still love me?"

"Come here."

Jenny pulled her into her lap, and kissed the side of her head gently, smiling down at her.

"Of course I still love you, you goofball. There's nothing in the world that you could do that would make me stop loving you."

"Really?"

"Really really," Jenny assured her, kissing her cheek.

"Will you stay and watch the movie with me, Aunt Jenny?"

"Of course, princess. Why don't you go find Uncle Jethro and see if he'll come watch it, too."

"Okay!"

Tori bolted for the steps, and Jenny stood, walking over to check on Lana. Her wide blue eyes stared up at Jenny and she carefully leaned down to kiss her cheek lightly.

"At least you can't talk yet, Lana Banana."

Loud footsteps signaled Tori's return and Jenny smiled as she pulled Gibbs to the couch. They started the movie from the beginning and as the opening credits began, Gibbs wrapped his arm around Jenny, pulling her into his side.

"You did great, Jen," he whispered, thankful Tori was too caught up in the screen to hear, "I'll make it worth your while tonight after Tori falls asleep."

"I don't think so," she whispered back seriously, "I'm not letting you do anything to me that could possibly result in my ending up with one of those."

She nodded her head in Tori's direction and he laughed quietly as he kissed her hair gently.

"Not all things end in kids, Jen. I seem to remember you telling me that I'm particularly good with my hands and tongue."

She laughed as she laid her head on his shoulder, nodding. He did make a very good point.

* * *

**A/N: Poor Jenny. **


End file.
